Field
The present specification generally relates to searching a document corpus using search queries and, more particularly, to systems and methods for searching a document corpus and generating search queries using a graphical user interface.
Technical Background
Currently, document corpuses such as those containing legal documents, patent documents, medical journals, etc. are searched using query expressions. These query expressions include operators such as Booleans operators (e.g., “and,” “or,” “and not,” etc.) as well as relationship operators (e.g., W/S for words within the same sentence, W/# for words located within a defined number of words). A user may type the query expression and then initiate a search of the document corpus using the query expression. In some cases, user error may invalidate the query expression, such as when the user inadvertently leaves out a parenthesis, for example. In other cases, the query expression may not represent the user's intent and may search for documents other than what user intended.
Generally, query expressions may become very long and complicated depending on what the user is searching for. The development of reliable query expressions may require a significant amount of time, as well as a high level of expertise that an average user may not possess. Because of the aforementioned problems, many users may not trust their search of the document corpus, and may believe that the generated search results are unreliable, or the generated search results may be unreliable and users may erroneously rely on such unreliable results and thereby make poor or uninformed decisions.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative methods of searching a document corpus and generating search queries.